I just discovered Shapeways recently and have become very fond of the whole concept and would love to get involved in this amazing community.

I'd really like to know how much time I should expect to invest before I can successfully model a few simple trinkets like small keychains with moving parts, maybe some jewelry, perhaps even a puzzle or something ( I already have several creative ideas in mind). However, I'm 19 years old and have my dreams set elsewhere. In other words, I don't plan to pursue 3d modeling as a career, but rather as a hobby or something to do on the side that could potentially make me a few dollars for college expenses.

So my question is: do you think it's WORTH it to learn a basic 3d modeling software if I'm not planning on becoming a pro at this. I don't expect to make a living off this, but can I expect to make a small income if I invest, say, a few months into learning it? Or is this market saturated with full time professionals and I'll just get pushed to the side if I'm not willing to dedicate ALL of my time to it?

And if so, which software should I learn that won't take forever to get me on my feet modeling some simple widgets? I'm leaning towards Rhino or Blender or GSketchup at this point, but any suggestions or advice on what each particular program is best at would be very much appreciated.

Blender is a tricky one, but if you don't have years of other software in your head, it should be easier to learn. But easiest would probably be sketchup. To get to the point where you can make a few dollars, isn't too hard. To get to the point of where you're paying for college, that would take some work.

Why don't you want to be an 3D designer? It's great!

I learned a long time ago the wisest thing I can do is be on my own side, be an advocate for myself and others like me. -Maya Angelou
michael@shapeways.com Community Advocate

I have seriously considered 3D design as a career. I'm sure it would be very personally rewarding and fun but I'm more of a finance guy at heart, I deal with trading systems and engineering in that sense.

However, as a hobby I feel it can be really rewarding and I appreciate your reply, it sort of restored my faith haha

I don't necessarily want the EASIEST software, but rather something with a moderate learning curve but that will give me the most flexibility in design. I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with Blender on this one but what about Rhino? Any thoughts on that?

I had a demo of Rhino once. Only used it as a file translator, but from what I've heard it's pretty good with Nurbs. If you want to see what Sketchup can do, check out Dizigof's shop. That's his software of choice. There are several Blender modelers on here as well, can't think of who off the top of my head. I personally use KeyCreator, a little pricey for a hobbyist. Aeron has done amazing work with Wings3D (I think that's the name)

I learned a long time ago the wisest thing I can do is be on my own side, be an advocate for myself and others like me. -Maya Angelou
michael@shapeways.com Community Advocate

To your questions about whether or not its worth it to dabble in 3D modeling in the bigger picture, I'd give a resounding "yes" because of two main points.

1) The number of people doing 3D modeling on the whole is reasonably small, so it's definitely not a saturated market. A lot of the guys here have been hobbyists, doing this work on the side, and they've developed a pretty nice following.

2) All signs point to 3D printing becoming much more prominent in the coming decades, if you got into it now, you'd be ahead of the curve.

Hope that's helpful.

Please keep us posted as you go. This is a wonderful community of creators, and people are great about sharing their know-how.

Blender is a free form polygon modeler.It's best at creating organic forms like hands, faces,animals. It is not so good for drawing precision or engineered machine parts Rhino is a CAD modeler it excels in precision work but sucks at organic shapes (like a tree or a frog). Also to consider, Blender is absolutely free and a Rhino package will run you about $1000. There are free working 3d CAD modelers out there. I think "Alibre" has a full working, basic 3d CAD program that they offer at no charge.

"Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art."
Leonardo da Vinci